Featured Database

Contains performances of the world's leading plays and film documentaries on the subject of theater in streaming video. Some plays presented in multiple productions exemplifying various interpretations of the text, and technical and cultural differences among the presentations. Browsable by productions, documentaries, people, companies, genres, theatres, and dates. Stage work of directors and actors are cross-searchable and available for side-by-side comparison. Interviews with directors, designers, writers, and actors, along with excerpts of live performances, provide illustration of the development of texts and the productions. A work in progress, this release contains 90 titles, representing hundreds of leading playwrights, actors and directors. Included are landmark performances such as The Iceman Cometh, Medea, Awake and Sing, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and Playboy of the Western World. Notable actors include Gene Wilder, Laurence Olivier, Richard Dreyfuss, Walter Matthau, Meryl Streep, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren and more.

Walter Havighurst Special Collections Current Exhibit

Stories from people who were children during World War II and the objects in this exhibit animate the past and inform us of a time when war took over daily life. “Retrospect is a very interesting thing,” says Ruthie Kallnder. “At the time I don’t recall any of the information we got as being propaganda,” but the government tried to influence children to make “necessary” sacrifices. Propagandists made the war a battle between good and evil, democracy and fascism. They also asked children to share in the war effort. In response, many children took on more responsibilities. Ruthie explains that boys and girls felt “if that’s what it was going to take” to win they “were willing to do it.” The memories of the people in this exhibit and their wartime actions show the power of propaganda’s messages and its lasting affect on their lives. Propaganda posters, children’s books, and classroom assignments demonstrate how propagandists reached children and involved them in the national war effort.